Assisted Dying: Reflections on the Need for Law Reform

This book explores the development of law in relation of euthanasia and assisted suicide, tracing its development from prohibition through to the laissez faire attitude adopted in some countries in the 21st Century. This book provides an in-depth critique of the arguments for and against legislation, and particularly address the role of the state in regulating such practices. In the classical tradition of libertarianism, the state is generally presumed to have a remit to intervene where individual practices threaten others, rather than the individuals themselves (Mill), leaving (arguably) a question mark over the states determined intervention (in the UK and elsewhere) into the private and highly personal choices of individuals to die rather than live. Of course, the need for third party involvement in assisted suicide and euthanasia may be thought to raise these practices to a different level, and equally obviously the state has a role in seeking to safeguard the moral tone of the community. These considerations may be in direct conflict with the so-called right to die espoused by some individuals and groups within the community.

Sheila McLean is International Bar Association Professor of Law and Ethics in Medicine and Director of the Institute of Law and Ethics in Medicine at the University of Glasgow.